


Differences Aside

by amirthfulgirl



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Brooklyn ADA Rafael, Defense Attorney Sonny, Denial of Feelings, Developing Relationship, Getting Together, M/M, Mention of false accusations of abuse, Sonny is a puppy, but also lots of Feelings, very plot heavy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:07:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27976323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amirthfulgirl/pseuds/amirthfulgirl
Summary: Rafael Barba is a new ADA in Brooklyn with already quite the reputation. Sonny Carisi is a new defense attorney right out of law school. They first meet for cases and later for even more legal questions and maybe even something more personal.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 15
Collections: Barisi Holiday Exchange 2020





	Differences Aside

**Author's Note:**

  * For [littleblacksubmarine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleblacksubmarine/gifts).



> Hey everyone!
> 
> This is my contribution to the Barisi Holiday Exchange 2020 for littleblacksubmarine, I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> The prompt I was given: „Rafael Barba is an up and coming prosecutor in Brooklyn notorious for his cutthroat stubbornness, and Dominick Carisi is the hopelessly idealistic newly graduated public defense attorney that keeps showing up against him in half of the cases he’s prosecuting like a horrible thorn in his side. Sparks fly regardless.” I hope I did it justice. :D
> 
> Thanks Sandra for the help and the beta!  
> I‘m always happy to receive kudos and comments. :)
> 
>   
> Have fun reading!

Rafael had only been an ADA for a short time but despite that he had already made quite a name for himself.  
Defense attorneys usually dreaded to go up against him in court or even talk about a plea deal with him. His reputation preceded him so far that even the new attorneys he occasionally met were not excited to meet him.

So it was quite unusual that the tall blue-eyed man with a dimpled smile on his lips by the name of Carisi – as Rafael’s notes said – was so pleased to see him.

“You must be Mr. Barba. I’m Dominick Carisi Jr, call me Sonny. I heard a lot about you.”  
“I think I’ll stick with Carisi for now and apparently you heard better things than most considering your good mood, counselor.” Rafael shot back while shaking the other man’s hand with a smirk.  
“Uh well I’ve read up on some of your cases when I was in law school. And they really motivated me to keep going.”  
“So you became a defense attorney? Seems like I was a rather bad influence to be honest.”

A bright pink flush appeared on Carisi’s cheeks upon that comment.  
“I actually wanna become an ADA one day but you know not so easy to get a job in a DA’s office right out of law school and I do have some student debts to pay.” Carisi tried to joke lightly but Rafael knew he had surprised Carisi with his swift comment.

So he decided to be generous and spare him further humiliation and instead focus on the case at hand. Rafael hoped they could reach a plea deal. Everything was rather straightforward and he was not surprised that Rita, his friend and the boss at the attorney firm Carisi worked for, had passed the case onto a newbie such as Carisi.

It was apparently Rafael’s lucky day because Carisi assured him that he had talked about the plea deal with his client and was willing to agree to it. The client had been held up at university today but Rafael’s assistant had seemingly refused to give Carisi a different time of the day. Which was probably for the better because having to meet with Carisi for the first time after having a meeting with Buchanan and the like, he probably wouldn’t have been so gentle with the counselor.

Rafael texted Rita about Carisi as soon as the other man had left but she refused to give out more information. Because despite the animosity at first, Carisi seemed like a bit more fun to work against than some of the other attorneys he knew. He obviously couldn’t tell Rita that which made the information gathering even harder because of course she asked why which was why Rafael gave up on that detective work for now.

Over the next weeks Carisi showed up in his office regularly. Often it was about some case for which they were discussing a plea. So he didn’t always come alone but sometimes brought his client with him.  
However he clearly hadn’t quite got the message after their first meeting that Rafael was not particularly interested in helping a defense attorney, so he also showed up in Rafael’s office when there was no case to discuss. 

The first time it happened, was on a Friday afternoon. Rafael was sure that most of the other DAs had already started their weekend but Rafael was a workaholic in persona so the approaching weekend wasn’t something that would keep him from working.  
Therefore he was surprised to hear a light knock at the door close to 6pm that afternoon.  
He had already sent Carmen home earlier so he had to approve his visitor himself.  
As soon as he did, the head of Carisi with a light pink flush as always high on his cheeks peeked through the door.

“Hey, sorry to interrupt you Mr. Barba. But I was passing by and I had already meant to ask you last week but would you mind if ask you some advice. About legal stuff.” Carisi asked cautiously.  
Rafael raised a confused eyebrow at him but motioned him inside and poured the counselor a cup of coffee as he poured a new one for himself before asking him to sit at one of the chairs in front of his desk.  
His office was a bit small and cramped with his desk, two chairs, a couch and a coffee table and bookshelves on every wall but he liked it and didn’t mind having visitors over.  
“You can start. What do you wanna know? About “legal stuff”.” Rafael added the last part with a smirk as he took a big gulp of his coffee.

“You know how I told you that I actually also want to become an ADA one day?” Rafael nodded. “Okay so uh I thought that maybe you could give me some insights or so. I mean I know we don’t know each other that well and you probably think I’m super annoying as well as everyone else does but you’re probably one of the people I get along with best. And you obviously also have quite the reputation. So I think I could learn a lot from you. I only just finished law school, you know. I already told you that but like I’m still a bit inexperienced.”  
“Okay okay okay, stop, please.” Rafael held up a hand with a pained expression on his face. Which apparently was the main thing Carisi noticed because he bowed his head in shame. “You can’t really expect me to give out free legal advice to my opponent, do you? No, don’t answer that.” Rafael immediately added because the other man was about to open his mouth again. “But”, he sighed, “I can maybe answer some questions you have. Sometimes.”  
“What? Really? That would be really great!” Carisi exclaimed happily, grinning at him widely with sparkling eyes.

And goddamn were his eyes blue. Rafael had already known that but he had never quite noticed it as much as now. He was so distracted by them that he hadn’t even realised that Carisi had continued talking. Why had he suddenly been so mesmerised by Carisi’s eyes?  
However, the amount of talking the other man did overpowered the beauty of those blue eyes easily. Rafael had to pinch himself in his wrist nonetheless to focus again on what was going on in front of him though. 

And in the following weeks Carisi took Rafael’s approval by heart and all the times he wasn’t in Rafael’s office because of a case he was there to ask questions. He once even followed Rafael to the door of a courtroom after they had started the questioning in his office, just so he could ask more.

While the company of the other lawyer wasn’t that bad, it was indeed kinda exhausting to be constantly followed around like a puppy following his master. That was actually a quite fitting comparison considering Carisi had indeed a few similarities with a puppy.  
And there it was again, those stupid distracting thoughts about Carisi that were not really of professional nature anymore. He’d never admit to anyone that it was more than some unprofessional thoughts but deep down he knew there was something more lingering there. But he shoved it down every time it tried to come up. Most importantly because he was sure that Carisi only admired him professionally and secondly because the other man was still a defense attorney after all, a fun but also very exhausting one.

He showed his refusal to acknowledge whatever was lingering at the back of his mind, by always throwing snarky comments at Carisi. At first it did keep Carisi on his toes and seemed to have an effect on him. But as time wore on and Rafael’s comments got softer and Carisi’s skin thicker, and Rafael even had the occasional experience of Carisi throwing a remark back at him.

One of those times was during a trial.  
Rafael obviously was trying to make something bigger out of the case than it actually was. Carisi and his client had refused to accept any of the plea deals Rafael had offered. And while he personally would have been willing to go lower and possibly reach an agreement, he had been strongly advised by his boss to not do that because they wanted to show that they took cases like this seriously although in Rafael’s opinion it really wasn’t that kinda case.

Rafael would have been okay to agree on a fine and community service but his boss had pressured for more and the victim and the accused had been okay with a trial too, probably encouraged by Carisi that this would end even better than the best plea deal Rafael would have offered.

That was how he found himself in court now with a case he knew was unlikely he would win. But he was still trying which meant including some dramatics. He also knew this could be Carisi’s first win in court and he had no intention of making it easy for him.

“So you don’t think he’d do it again. You’re just like “Oh well it happened but I don’t care now” or what? You’re gonna walk around the house with a protective shield now?”  
“Oh come on, Counselor, stop being so dramatic!” Carisi interjected from his bench.  
“I have no idea what you are talking about. I’m just doing my cross.” Rafael replied cockily.  
“Oh shut up, you know exactly that you’re making a lot out of nothing.”

“COUNSELORS!” The judge finally got through to them after already having called out to them several times. “Approach, please.”  
Rafael did so with maybe an extra pep to his steps just to annoy Carisi who scowled at him as he approached. But Rafael wasn’t blind either and had seen where Carisi’s eyes had drifted to for a short moment.  
“Counselors, I have no idea what is going on between you two but please leave it out of my courtroom. Mr. Barba please refrain from unnecessarily overdramatising. Mr. Carisi, I expect better language from you in my courtroom and keep your eyes up here.” The judge motioned for them to step back, making it clear that there was no room for discussion.  
They both murmured a quiet “Yes, your honour.” before making their way back to their previous positions in the room and Rafael continued with his cross, a bit less dramatic now though. There was no need to be held in contempt over such a small case.

It came as no surprise that the trial was already finished only a few hours later including the verdict being read after the jury had only been out for barely more than half an hour. This case was indeed Carisi’s first win and Rafael could see the relief in his expression as the verdict was read and his client hugging him directly afterwards.  
While they only shared a short nod of acknowledgment first, Rafael couldn’t help himself but clap a hand on Carisi’s shoulder with a soft “Congratulations” before sauntering out of the courtroom. 

Rafael wasn’t particularly sad about the loss because he had known all along that he hadn’t really stood a chance but he still poured himself a generous amount of scotch before sinking down on the small couch in the corner of his office.  
He still had a hard time admitting to whatever it was between him and Carisi but he was proud of the other lawyer. Despite his overeagerness most of the time, he always enjoyed working with him. Or well rather against him. But he also knew how hard it was to find footing in the law world at the beginning. So he was happy that Carisi could finally celebrate a win in the courtroom. 

Despite the preparations for the trial, Carisi had still come to him with questions on several days. Rafael had told him on the first day though that he’d obviously not answer any questions that even remotely had anything to do with the case. But this had caused Carisi to not ask any legal questions at all but rather personal ones instead. Like where Rafael grew up, how he got into law, how he got into the DA’s office and so on. Carisi had also talked at length about his own life. Rafael was sure on some days Carisi had really just come by to tell him about new adventures of his sisters.  
Rafael had even agreed to exchange personal numbers at one point so Carisi could send him a particular funny video of his niece. This had resulted in the other man not only coming by to talk to Rafael but also occasionally texting him.

Rafael would be lying if he said that he hadn’t enjoyed it. And he would also be lying if he said that he didn’t feel a bit sad now, unsure if the counselor would still so happily talk about his personal life now that he could ask legal questions again. Rafael knew he should finally admit to himself he had a problem. A tall, lanky, blue-eyed and overly cheery problem. But the fact that Carisi was a defense attorney still didn’t sit particularly right with him. After a previous relationship with a defense attorney had gone awry, he had vowed to himself to never start something with a defense attorney again. But here was thinking about relationships while thinking about a certain defense attorney named Sonny Carisi.

Speaking of the devil, a soft knock echoed through the room. He had left the door ajar, not expecting to get more work done today anyway.  
Blue eyes scanned the room before landing on Rafael on the couch.  
“Coming to gloat?” Rafael asked with a smirk.  
“No actually...” Carisi stepped into the room and closed the door behind him before continuing. “I wanted to tell you something.”  
“Okay sure, sit down.” Rafael patted the spot on the couch next to him.  
Carisi nervously placed his briefcase next to the small coffee table before sitting down.  
“I think I mentioned it a couple of times now but it’s my dream to become a prosecutor as well.”  
“You’ve said that before, yes.” Rafael chuckled which caused a shy smile to spread across Carisi’s lips.  
“Well uh there was an opening here in Brooklyn recently and I obviously immediately applied for it. And I didn’t expect to get the job but I thought it wouldn’t be so bad to throw my name into the hat. But uh... I actually got the job.” Carisi could barely contain his smile now at the last sentence.

“Oh my god, that’s amazing! I’m so happy for you, Sonny!” And Rafael genuinely was, and in an for Rafael unusually overenthusiastic motion he placed his drink on the table before wrapping his arms around Sonny (it was probably appropriate to call him Sonny now, wasn’t it?) and pulling him into a hug. It took the other man a moment to react to the sudden display of emotions by Rafael but then he wrapped his arms tightly around Rafael.

When they pulled apart again, they didn’t move as far away from each other than before but rather stayed in each other’s spaces.  
“Thank you by the way. I don’t think I’d have had the courage or would even remotely think that I could handle the job if it wasn’t because of you. You helped me a lot in the past months.” Sonny told him earnestly, his blue eyes searching Rafael’s green.  
“No problem.” Rafael replied with a fond smile. “I’m glad you won’t be a defense attorney anymore.” He couldn’t help himself but add.

“Oh really? But I feel like I still managed to find out a lot more about you than some other prosecutors did, Rafael.” Sonny replied while gently bumping his shoulder against Rafael’s. And if Rafael didn’t already have strong feeling for the other lawyer beforehand, he was sure that soft utterance of his name would have been the starting point.  
“That’s because I wanted you to know.”  
Sonny looked at him with a confused expression, his head tilted to the side.  
“I... uh... I like you, Sonny. A lot. I like you a lot. And not out of nowhere. I did for quite some time but I haven’t had the best experience with feelings for defense attorneys before so I kept it down. But you just opened so many doors and I don’t wanna hold back anymore, Sonny.”  
“I do too. I like you a lot too.” Sonny said softly. The usually verbose lawyer had put his feelings into surprisingly few words compared to Rafael. But the other man seemed to be more focused on Rafael’s lips anyway.

“Can I kiss you, Rafael?” “Yes.” And that’s all it took for Sonny to put his hands on both sides of his head and pull him in until their lips touched. Rafael felt sparks going off, the moment they started kissing. It was perfect.  
Before he could deepen the kiss though, Sonny pulled away.  
“Can I take you out to dinner tonight?” “Yes.” Rafael only replied again, not willing to ever say no to this man again, as his lips were captured by Sonny’s soft pink ones again.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> I‘d be happy to receive comments and kudos. :)
> 
> Find me on twitter @ndrwsctt.


End file.
